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MOTHER BUNNY 








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“MISTER RABBIT WATCHED ME WITH EAGER, ANXIOUS 

EYES ” 





MOTHER BUNNY 


BY ^ 

HARRIET A. CHEEVER 

M 

AUTHOR OF 

“THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF BILLY TRILL,” 
“MADAME ANGORA,” “LORD DOLPHIN,” ETC. 


ffllustrntcli fau 

DIANTHA W. HORNE 



BOSTON 

DANA ESTES & COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 


Two Copies Received 

JUN 12 1903 


Copyright Entry 


At/euy 

clas£ 


T.S'- ^ 

OLy XXc. No. 


(s> 0 y ^ ^ 


COPY B. 



Copyright, jgoj 
By Dana Estes & Company 


All rights reserved 


,,, mother bunny 
*I • / Published May, 1903 


ffiolom'al 

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & 
Boston, Mass., U. S. A. 


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i 



CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 



PAGE 

I. 

Life Underground 

• 

• 

. 11 

11. 

A Run for Freedom . 



. 21 

III. 

A Sharp Trick 



. 33 

IV. 

Three Runaways 



. ‘40 

V. 

A Wounded Beauty . 



47 

VI. 

A Droll Family . 



. 53 

VII. 

A Far-away Party . 



. 62 

VIII. ■ 

More about the Party 



. 71 

IX. 

My IVIatches and a Trap . 



. 81 

X. 

Come Again 



. 92 



L- ^ i ft 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

“Mister Rabbit watched me with eager, 

ANXIOUS eyes” {Page 36) . . Frontispiece 

“ But you couldn’t hurry his Importance. 

Oh, no, not in the least ” . . . .48 

“Tumbling pell-mell right on to our sup-. 

per - TABLE ” . . . . . . . 60 ^ 

“ And off he darted at a breakneck speed. 


THE WOODCHUCK CLUTCHING HIM ABOUT THE 
NECK 

“ I RACED UP, GRABBED HIM BY THE EAR, AND 
GAVE IT A TWEAK THAT MADE HIM DROP MY 
CHILD 

“The game was to pull the trap over to 

OUR BURROW, AND GRADUALLY GNAW HIM 
FREE «••••••• 


69 ^ 


79 


89 




MOTHER BUNNY 


CHAPTEE I. 

LIFE UNDEKGROUITD 

G ood morning, Boy. So you are getting well, 
and think it great sport to come over here 
to the edge of the woods every day and call on me. 

Of course you didn’t know until just now that 
I could talk so you could understand. It may be 
you are dreaming, and only imagine that you hear 
me talking. But no, your eyes are wide open, 
and I don’t believe in mere dreaming when any 
one’s eyes are roaming around everywhere. 

Yes, my home is in the woods close by, but 
excuse me. Boy, I had rather not tell exactly 
where. You may be very nice and kind, but I 
have known creatures like you that run on only 
two legs, and have their paws — oh, excuse me 
again ! — I mean, have their hands at the end 
U 


12 


MOTHER BUNNY 


of what they call arms*” who would hunt down 
a Mother Bunny, destroy her burrow, and steal 
her young. 

Certainly ! my home is called a burrow, because 
it is a mere hole in the ground. At least, thai 
is what it would look like to you. 'Not being a 
Rabbit, with four legs and four paws, you could 
not very well see the inside of my house without 
pulling it all to pieces. But it is a very snug, 
cosy place, I can assure you. 

Ah ! I see a sly look creeping into your eyes, 
which means you think it would be easy to 
follow me home sometime when you get stronger. 
You see, I know you. Boy ! But very smart and 
spry any one would have to be on. just two legs 
to follow me far. 

And don’t you suppose an experienced little old 
mistress like Mother Bunny has learned a thing or 
two about slyness for herself by this time ? 

Indeed, I should lead you a chase that would 
soon tire you out, were there any attempt at follow- 
ing me, and even then nothing would be learned. 
We have to learn slyness, we creatures of the field 
and meadow, for plenty there are of both animals 
and men, to say nothing of some great birds of 
the air, that would harm us in many ways were 
we not watchful and spry. 

Really, I am very contented and happy. Here 
I have lived right in these woods for years. Most 


LIFE UNDERGROUND 


13 


of the Rabbits round and about know me well. 
When a question of importance comes up, Mother 
Bunny is very likely to be asked what she thinks 
about it. 

So I have tried to grow wise in affairs, and 
now not only the Rabbits come to me with their 
stories of pleasure or of trouble, but there are 
other forest creatures that have got into the habit 
of inviting me to their homes and trusting me 
as a friend. 

Did you think that the birds of the air, the 
insects that hum in the breeze, the animals large 
and small that run along the ground, and the 
fishes in the sea, were the only dumb creatures,’’ 
as they are sometimes called, that there are ? 

Oh, you are mistaken. Boy. There are lots 
and lots of active creatures that live in the earth, 
under its surface, have their homes and rear their 
families there, many of them seldom coming out 
into the light except to find food, and sometimes 
material for building. But we Bunnies often 
run about. 

Isn’t it fun? We think it is. As long as we 
escape being harmed during the day, we feel very 
safe at night. Storms do not reach us. Hunters 
are not much abroad in the darkness. True, 
we sometimes suffer from other dwellers under- 
ground that are larger or fiercer than ourselves, 
blit that does not often happen. 


14 


MOTHER BUNNY 


We hide our nests. Some One has taught us 
skill in casting up twigs, making screens of net- 
work, and in various ways concealing the entrances 
to our homes. I am five years old, and although 
I have had some pretty hard fights, I never have 
had a burrow destroyed, not really destroyed. 

Perhaps you wonder from whence I came, or 
where my family was first known and bred. 

In Spain, if you please. I know this from 
having heard men say that the Pahbit family 
came from way across the ocean and the Spanish 
main. But now we are found almost everywhere, 
both in Europe and in this broad land. 

What do you say? You should much like to 
see my house ? Yo, that is one thing I must he 
very firm about, for were I to take you to my door, 
all you could see would he just the entrance and 
a little peep into the hall. Boys’ eyes were not 
made to see into Mother Bunny’s chambers, and 
it is well they were not. 

Do you ask how many children I have had? 
Over a hundred. What a roar! If you laugh 
like that I sha’n’t know about going on. And if 
it seems almost impossible to believe that one small 
object has been so much a mother, and cared for 
so many children, please remember that mother 
instinct and knowledge are very strong with nearly 
all creatures, and we Bunnies know how to care 
for our own. 


LIFE UNDERGROUND 


15 


In one part of my burrow is a snug little cham- 
ber where my babies are cared for. As my nest 
cannot be peeped into by your eyes, let me describe 
it. 

Perhaps you think your hair mattress is the 
best bed in the world. hTot so fast, boy! In 
my sheltered baby-room there used to be beds made 
from my own soft fur. I knew how to pluck it 
from my breast, and make the very softest bed 
known to man or beast. Feathers make a dainty 
couch on which to lie, but feathers, be they ever 
so downy, have little sticky quills ; fur is fur, and 
nothing else ; clear, soft down. 

I raised one brood in another place than the 
burrow baby-chamber. For once, as I was pre- 
paring the Bunny baby-bed, I caught a Hare peep- 
ing around and watching me. Oh, the crazy, hate- 
ful creature ! We are born sworn enemies, the 
Babbits and the Hares. 

I put our name foremost, not because I do not 
know better than to speak of myself or our kind 
first, but because I would not be seen or heard 
putting a Hare or one of the tribe before the Bun- 
nies, when mentioning them together. Whenever 
we meet, we engage in a combat that is likely to 
finish one or the other. 

What? You thought Babbits and Hares were 
the same ? Ho, no. Boy, do not think that any 
longer. 


16 


MOTHER BUNNY 


Hares are larger than we, have longer ears, lon- 
ger feet, are more decidedly gray in color, and 
their ears are not as finely tipped with black as 
are ours. Don’t say Hare ” to me very often. 
I couldn’t stand it. 

My goodness me ! What do you think I saw 
with my own eyes one night ? I saw a Hare make 
a slit in the breast of a cat! 

Fierce! ” you exclaim. I should say so. Yet 
let me do justice even to an enemy. 

Master Hare will go about in every kind of 
weather. If it thunders loud enough to stun you, 
and the lightning is just one streak and glare, 
if the rain is coming down as if faucets had been 
turned on in the sky, if hailstones thump and 
prick. Master Hare will go from place to place 
through it all if he takes a notion. 

Or, if it is so cold it makes a Boy puff and blow 
merely to put his nose out-of-doors, it does not 
hinder Master Hare from taking a forest run. 
Or, should the snow be soft and deep so that plump 
goes his body into the cold mass, no matter, the 
Hare-man will hop right through it. 

Oh, yes, the rascal has plenty of courage. I’ll 
say that for him. Moreover, he has a temper of 
his own, and let him get either vexed or wounded, 
and the cry he will set up ! It goes right through 
your head. 

But I was speaking a moment ago of catching 


LIFE UNDERGROUND 


17 


a Hare-thing spying on me at one time when I 
was making a bed for baby Babbits. He took 
himself away when I turned toward him, not 
that be was afraid, but be was not quite sure of 
my having seen him, and, ob, yes! great sport 
it would be for him to come around some day when 
I was absent, rumple up my nice little bed, and 
perhaps kill my poor babies. 

You see, the baby Hares come into the world 
all dressed, their eyes open, and able to run about. 
As soon as they feel hunger, they munch around 
and find food for themselves. The mother lives 
in what is called a form,’’ a mere shallow bole 
or slump in the ground, and that is where her 
babies first see the light. 

How my tender little dears came into a soft, 
fur nest, and were without clothing at first, ex- 
cept a few straggling hairs here and there. Their 
eyes were not open for five or six days, and they 
could not run a step on their delicate little feet. 

So I brooded over them for a few days, and 
soon the fur would begin coming out beautifully 
all over them. In about a week they began feeling 
their feet, and began peering about the nest, as 
cunning little babies in fur as one need wish to 
see. 

And you will understand. Boy, why it was need- 
ful that I should have a clean, dry nest, when I 


18 


MOTHER BUNHY 


tell you that wet or dampness will soon kill a 
Bunny-boy, so I must always find a perfectly dry 
place in which to arrange my burrow. 

I have to keep going hack to the time when I 
saw that Hare-scamp peeping in at my baby-room. 
Some call it a brood-chamber.” I could have no 
rest or peace after seeing those unwelcome eyes 
peering about, so what do you think I did ? 

We do not often climb trees, but we can climb 
if we want to. And one day, when I heard a dog 
hark, — dogs are a great terror to Bunnies, — 
up I bounded to a low limb of an elm-tree, and 
while I was hiding there a gust of wind blew 
aside a mass of loose bark, fibre, and shreds, that 
had covered a large hole in the trunk of the tree. 

ISTow,” I said to myself, there would he a 
fine place for a nest if ever I should need one 
in a hurry, for I could easily keep a matted cover- 
ing over the entrance, and feel quite safe.” 

So when I found that a cruel Hare had found 
what I was about, I caught up mouthfuls of hair 
at a time, ran secretly over to the elm-tree, and 
in the fine deep hollow that made a nice little 
chamber I soon had a soft, cosy bed neatly made. 

It was very cold weather, hut my little family 
of Bunnies were warm and comfortable in the 
heart of the great tree, where I nursed and tended 
them until they were ready to run about. Then, 


lif:e underground 


19 


one by one, I took them over to the old burrow or 
warren. 

We do not readily give up a home. Oh, by no 
means. Several generations of Bunnies will keep 
the same warren. We add to it from time to 
time, often turning a corner underground, making 
a crooked passage, and, as we increase in numbers, 
we can all the better defend ourselves in case 
of attack. 

Old Master Hare would have to look out for 
himself if I, my mate, and our children should 
'' go for him.’’ 

My mate? Why, certainly. Boy. We are a 
perfectly respectable family of father, mother, and 
children. I have loved my children very much, 
and tended them faithfully. As for my mate and 
I, we cling to each other through all times and 
all weathers, find food for our family as long as 
it is necessary, and keep house with quite as much 
dignity and skill as most other creatures of the 
animal kingdom. 

My last brood of Bunnies is nearly a year old, 
and it may be that before long they all will go 
to burrows of their own, setting up housekeeping 
with the mates they will choose, or that will choose 
them. 

We live in our own burrow, — and you shall 
hear presently how the home was started, — a 


20 


MOTHER BUNNY 


family of nine, six children, their parents, and 
another member, of whom also yon shall presently 
hear. Our other children visit us 6ften, and we 
frequently have visiting friends. 


CHAPTEE II. 


A RUN FOR FREEDOM 

H OW happy you look, Boy. Ah! I see, we 
have been having what some of your old 
people call a spell of weather,^^ and it has been 
so damp and rainy you couldn’t run to your seat 
on the broad stump, watch my movements, and 
listen to my story. 

I thing you did fall a-dreaming after I had 
been talking to you the other day, for I heard you 
murmur : 

I wonder how such a handsome old Bunny 
happens to be wild.” So let me explain: 

Vanity is not a common trait with animals, and 
yet it seems as if we had a right to be proud of 
some things. But you see, vanity and pride are 
two different things. I have been very proud of 
some of my beautiful children. A mother should, 
perhaps, he proud of all her offspring alike, hut 
when one of my fur totties would he particularly 
pretty, I’m afraid I felt a little extra pride over 
it 


21 


22 


MOTHER BUNNY 


E’ow more than once I have heard people speak 
of my beauty of person ; yes, you may smile at the 
word person ’’ if you want to, but you see I 
must talk as people do in talking to one of the 
people ; but if I have been possessed of beauty, it 
surely has proved a great snare. More than one 
trap has been set for me in particular. More than 
one Boy has chased me without mercy. 

I have what hunters call a butterfly face.’^ 
My colors are gray, white, and black. It looks 
as though deep gray hair was parted on my fore- 
head and turned back from my face. My nose 
and lips, making up the butterfly marking, are 
darkly tinted. My breast, sides, and legs are white 
as snow, while the top of my back runs almost into 
black. Around my neck is a mottled chain of dark 
gray and white. Once I heard a man exclaim : 

Ho ! I would like to catch that Rabbit. Look 
at the arch of its back, will you ? Stands up all 
of two inches above the head. See, it has a neck- 
lace on, and jolly ! what a dewlap ! ’’ 

That last meant the soft white pouch hanging 
beneath my throat. I know now, also, that a 
Rabbit, in order to have a perfect shape, should 
have a high, well-arched back. 

I suddenly became scarce on hearing these re- 
marks, and when soon afterward I saw a neat 
net arranged midst a tangle of brambles, I did 
not run into it. 


A RUN FOR FREEDOM 


23 


Our burrows usually have several entrances, 
so that I can dart into a front, side, or back door, 
and yet be in the same old home. But you needn’t 
put on that look of cunning. Boy, you won’t find 
them. 

[N’ow I was not born in a wild, or natural, bur- 
row. E^o, I was born in a hutch, or what is often 
called a warren.” I have spoken of my wild 
home underground as a warren, because I like to 
give a sound of what you call “ civilization ” to 
my home. 

That, you see, is probably because I did not 
come into the world as a wild thing, but more as 
a civilized creature, and have since learned some- 
thing of higher things than a mere wild state 
would have made me acquainted with. 

See what honors you enjoy, Boy, in belonging 
to the higher animal kingdom.” Large talk for 
Mother Bunny, hey? Well, then, let me get back 
to my simple story, only I think it is but right 
to feel great thankfulness for being able to under- 
stand and to enjoy the very best there is to enjoy. 

I lived, then, in a hutch with many others that 
were kept as fancy Rabbits,” and were to be 
sold to people who had fine grounds, and liked 
having rare little animals on them. 

We have been great pets with people, especially 
with children, and more particularly with Boys. 
Many the Boy who has saved up money to buy 


24 


MOTHER BUNNY 


a Bunny or two, and many the good father who 
has allowed the coachman or the gardener to build 
a nice little Kahhit-house for the children. These 
houses are generally like little kennels, with a 
small space around them of very hard earth, so 
hard it would not he at all easy to burrow into. 
Then a high wire netting encloses the entire plot. 

Great care is taken to prevent our escape from 
a hutch, and, being pets, we are watched pretty 
closely. But where we are kept to be sold, there 
is scarcely any such thing possible as getting away. 
Plenty of grass, nuts, and vegetables, leaves and 
parings, are given us to eat, and we have plenty of 
water to drink. We are visited and admired, hut 
all this does not satisfy. 

What we want is freedom. Freedom to whisk 
through field and woods, to find our own wild 
food, of nuts, roots, grass, and weeds. We do not 
drink much water, and moist, juicy foods are very 
harmful for us. In fact, wet or watery food would 
soon kill a Babbit. 

We know well enough what we want for fodder. 
And, mind you, the greatest fun of all is to romp 
through fine gardens at night, nip the sweet, beau- 
tiful corn, catch at celery tops, cabbage leaves, 
parsley, and other greens. Sweet clover is a nib- 
bling delight, while pea and bean vines are very 
sweet also to our taste. 

We can cut our food fine as we choose with our 


A BUN FOB FBEEBOM 


25 


sharp upper and lower front teeth, that serve us 
for knives or scissors. What if we do make a bit 
of mischief now and then in the vegetable garden ? 
The farmer needn’t complain. We often nibble 
the grass so close that it saves his mowing it, and 
we clear away more brush and briars than he 
thinks for. 

The hutch that was my first home was kept by 
a Bird and Babbit Fancier.” This means a 
man who makes a regular business of selling birds 
and Babbits. Many of them he raises himself. 

Beally, Boy, there were some of the most beauti- 
ful Babbits in that great hutch that I have ever 
seen. There were light grays, others of tortoise 
— tortus — shell, or yellow, black, and white, but 
although these were considered rare, I did not 
think them as pretty as some others. There were 
perfectly white ones, with pink eyes, and ears 
lined with delicate pink. 

But most lovely and rare of all, were the Al- 
binos,” with thick, fine, silky fur, pure white, and 
all of seven inches in length. Their eyes were also 
pink, and their ears pink lined. They sold for 
a fancy price,” and were well worth it. 

Once in awhile an ordinary white Babbit will 
have among a family of little new Bunnies just 
one of these long-furred, valuable Albinos. 

Our hutch was a long, wide enclosure, divided 
off into several squares, was floored over with 


26 


MOTHER BUNNY 


boards, and tbe edges were tipped with tin, so 
afraid were the keepers that we would nibble our 
way through to the ground, and so escape. But' 
earth was put over the boards, and grass was 
thickly strewn on top. We were kept clean, well- 
fed, and, above all, perfectly dry. 

My first little family came to me in the hutch, 
and I am sorry to say the small dears would 
squabble now and then, do all I could to make 
them behave themselves and live peaceably. But 
they were soon sold away, and it would have been 
a grief were it not that so many little ones have 
needed my care, that no one Mother Bunny could 
keep the run of them all. 

Many of the Babbits, particularly the white 
ones, seemed to enjoy being constantly petted, and 
I truly thought they would as soon have remained 
captives as not. I have learned better since, and 
know that, so far as most of them were concerned, 
I was mistaken. 

Yet there really were some that liked their 
life in the hutch, and were so tame that, after 
being allowed to run about the lawn, they would 
go willingly back into the warren, where they 
were sure of good beds and dry shelter, for each 
section of the warren had in it a regular little 
house where the Babbits could escape the snow, 
rain, or too heavy a dew. 

But I was discontented, and watched my chance 


A RUN FOR FREEDOM 


27 


to run away. It did not come soon, for I think 
the keepers knew I wanted to escape, and kept 
a sharp eye on me. 

One glad day, however, a young man came 
swinging toward the hutch, opened the little door, 
and, as he thought, closed it behind him. But 
he did not quite close it, and I managed to squeeze 
through. 

I pressed my side so hard it hurt, and two or 
three others Rabbits, seeing I had got away, began 
squeezing as I had, to get out. The young man 
saw in a minute what they were up to, and quickly 
pulled back the fine fellow that in another instant 
would have been at liberty. 

Alas, it was my mate! We had long under- 
stood, in our peculiar way of understanding, that 
should it ever be possible we would cut for 
freedom. And I had winked at him on starting 
for the little door. Had not several others been 
so eager to find themselves free, he might have 
been able to follow me. But there was no time 
to linger, even for a beloved mate. 

As soon as the other Rabbits had been driven 
well into the hutch, and the door carefully closed, 
the careless young man rushed along the path, 
eager to catch and capture me. But I had made 
the best of the few moments’ delay, and was very 
quickly hidden under a garden bench. His foot- 
steps hurried past me as I lay concealed. 


28 


MOTHER BUNNY 


I knew as well as any one could have told me, 
that not until after the darkness fell would it be 
safe for me to venture out and — away for the 
woods ! It must have been that my parents were 
wild Rabbits, for as soon as I knew anything, I 
began to long for freedom, and to live a wild, 
natural life. 

My poor mate had the same longing. I had seen 
him spend hours, running first to one end of the 
enclosure, then the other, nosing about the care- 
fully tinned edge, trying in vain to find a little 
space of earth, where he could, perhaps, pick his 
way through to the free life beyond. 

We neither of us were ever allowed to go out- 
side the hutch for a moment, probably because we 
were not tame, and the keepers were, I think, very 
quick to see which Rabbits were to he trusted 
with a hit of liberty, and which were not. 

When it grew still and dark, I ventured forth. 
Oh, it seemed very strange. Think of it. Boy! 
It was the first time in my life — and I was 
over a year old — that I had ever been able to 
run about on the wild, free earth, skipping to 
and fro, and going wherever I pleased. 

Was it any wonder that I was afraid? For 
afraid I was. It is my nature to he timid, any- 
way. Even in the hutch I was inclined to tremble 
and want to run away when the keeper came 
around. He knew how to handle us. He would 


A BUN FOR FREEDOM 


29 


seize us by our pointed ears, holding the other hand 
under us, and would carry us from place to place 
without hurting in the least. 

Yet I always feared him, and when, once in 
awhile, a dog would rush up to our cage-like home, 
and bark, although I knew he could not get through 
the wires, I would tremble as if I had the shakes, 
and nearly die of fright. At least, that was the 
way it seemed to me. 

Then I had heard of woodchucks, skunks, and 
weasels, dreadful creatures that wander about after 
nightfall, and should I chance to meet one, alas, 
for poor Bunny! 

So there I was under the rustic bench, and al- 
most too much afraid to use the liberty so much 
longed-for and now gained. All at once I remem- 
bered something. 

E’ot long before this, two fine-appearing men 
had visited the warren, and looked at us with 
much pleasure and interest. Pretty creatures, 
aren’t they ? ” said one. 

Yes,” said the other, and they do indeed 
look both innocent and helpless. You know the 
Greatest Book in the world says : ^ The rocks 
are a refuge for the Conies,’ and that ^ The Conies 
are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses 
in the rocks.’ ” 

“ These are not exactly Conies,” said the first 


man. 


30 


MOTHER BUNNY 


1^0, but they are doubtless of the same family 
as the little creatures called Conies in the Great 
Book/’ said the other. The Babbits and the 
Conies are nearly the same, and both have been 
taught to build their houses underground and near 
the rocks. And then, there are those words about 
the ants.” 

He repeated them, and I heard and remem- 
bered what was said of the ants, but just then 
they did not so much interest me as what he had 
said before. But all at once I took courage. 

A great round moon was shining over the earth, 
making the path light, yet casting friendly shad- 
ows. For really the darkness favored me most, 
although just then both light and shade seemed 
to help me. The stars were all alight and burning 
brightly. I knew that far aloft in the trees 
thousands of birds were sweetly sleeping, their 
heads tucked under their wings. 

How the moon did not make itself. The stars 
did not set their own little lamps a-burning. The 
birds were not taking care of themselves, they 
were sound asleep and too little. Some One who 
was not asleep was watching; it must be so. 

And surely if a poor Bunny wanted to find 
for herself a home, she would be guarded. If 
the Greatest Book in the world spoke of our cousins 
the Conies, and said that, for all they were a feeble 
folk, they knew enough to use the rocks for a 


A nUN FOR FREEDOM 


31 


refuge, which means a place of safety, and to 
build them houses near or under the rocks, why, 
then, it was plain that for a rock I must scud, 
and there I would find me a place to build or to 
dig a home. 

That was as far as a Rabbit’s reasoning could 
go. But that was enough. 

So, as I said, I became suddenly brave. Off I 
ran as fast as my nimble feet could carry me. 
I crossed the moonlit road, raced along by the 
grassy, shadowy edges, and reached the woods. 
Here I paused and looked around for a rock. 
Once I heard a scramble, and quickly hid under 
a stump. Then there was a whirr of strong wings, 
and an owl swooped by. But he saw nothing of 
little Mother Bunny, crouched down midst a lot 
of brown weeds. 

Forth I started again, listened and ran, listened 
and ran. I would sit up on my haunches, fold over 
my fore paws, prick up my sharp ears, and listen 
for the least noise. I was young and timid then, 
and only half understood what I heard. How I 
know the different sounds made by rustling leaves, 
squirrels, birds of prey, and mere harmless little 
creatures that buzz and hum. Then, everything 
startled me. 

At length, well into the woods, I saw a great, 
mossy rock. I ran for it. Ha ! down at its base 
was a soft, dry hollow. Gently, but in earnest. 


32 


MOTHER BUNNY 


I began to dig. Clumps of matted brush close 
by made fine hiding-places when I heard strange 
noises. 

Pretty soon I had a hole large enough to creep 
into, and by scraping dry leaves near the top, 
could be completely hidden. 

My home was only begun, but already it was a 
dear refuge, right under a great rock. 


CHAPTEK III. 


A SHARP TRICK 

F OP several days I worked diligently on my 
new house. The situation delighted me. 
Plenty of tangles, briers, and rubbish concealed 
the entrance, and I surprised myself with the 
amount of work I found could be done in a day. 
At night I crept forth, found tufts of thyme, 
wild strawberries, and sweet roots, in abundance. 

At the end of two weeks I had a tunnel under- 
ground, well-lined with soft brush suitable for 
living or sleeping rooms. Everything was nice 
as could be, only — I was very lonely. I longed 
for my mate. And as the place under the rock 
began to look more and more like a home, I also 
began to realize what a lonesome, miserable thing 
it was to occupy a house alone. 

True, I had seen other Rabbits, hut they all 
had their own families, and beyond eyeing me 
curiously for a moment, they took no notice of 
me. But it was not my nature to want to live 
by myself, and I could no longer forget that it 
33 


34 


MOTHER BUNNY 


is friends and companions that have to help make 
up a home. 

I wonder, Boy, if you know the meaning of the 
hard word, gre-ga-rious. It means going in flocks 
or herds, or in the company of many others. 
Well, Babbits are gregarious in their habits, and 
quite often it happens that the burrow of one 
family will cross the burrow of neighbors. 

I must say, I prefer having a burrow to myself 
and my family, but I tell you these facts to show 
that it is not at all natural for Babbits to want 
to live alone. So now that I no longer needed to 
work every hour of the day, I began to pine for 
my absent mate. 

Yet right here let me tell you one thing. And 
it is something well worth remembering. There 
is nothing like work, good, steady, honest work, 
for taking up the mind and keeping troublesome 
thoughts in the background. If you put this fact 
right into a little cell of your memory, it may 
serve you flnely, both while you are young, and 
when you have grown to be a man. 

One night I asked myself seriously if I could 
not set my wits to work, and think up a plan for 
giving my mate the freedom I found so sweet, 
and that I knew he, poor fellow, was longing for 
more than ever. 

And I did recall just one thing that looked like 
a gleam of encouragement. There was a weak 


A SHABP TRICK 


35 


place in the wire netting down near the hoarding, 
at a far corner of the hutch. But it was only 
a tiny little place, and Mister Babbit and I had 
worked at it a number of times without doing the 
least bit of good. 

ISTow I wondered if anything more could be 
done by working at it from the outside. Perhaps 
I might manage to get Mister Babbit’s help by 
being very cautious and sly. Then by our united 
efforts we might possibly pry up the weak wire, 
and so let my companion through. 

Ah, but it was a perilous thing, even to think 
of! I remembered how I trembled the night of 
my escape, and how weak my legs felt as I ran 
over the ground and away from the hutch. 

Up at the house was a great dog that could nab 
me and shake the life out of me in a moment. 
True, he had been trained never to dare touch one 
of the tame Babbits when they were let loose, but 
a strange Bunny outside of the warren would be a 
different thing. 

But Hero seldom left the piazza at night. That 
was where he was expected to stay, and did stay, 
usually, from the time the darkness fell until morn- 
ing. Yet the dangerous road I must cross, the 
night-folk I must avoid, made me hesitate, hang 
back, and feel slow to venture. 

But after nearly three weeks I could stand it 


36 


mother bunny 


no longer, and resolved to set out that very night 
after midnight and see what I could do. 

It was fine and starlight, but with no moon. 
I was glad of that; moonlight might show too 
much for a trip like mine. I reached the grounds 
safely. Hero was nowhere in sight. All was 
perfectly quiet inside the hutch. I waited a mo- 
ment, then made a slight bleat. A pink nose was 
shoved out of a little wooden house. I tapped the 
wire ever so gently, and out from the open door 
came the bright eyes and furry head of a Bunny. 

It was Mister Babbit. I perked up my ears, 
nodded as hard as I could, and in an instant he 
was out and close beside me, that is, as close as 
he could be with that separating wire between us. 

He understood the game at once when I tried 
to push that weak square up a little, then gnawed 
at the edge of the wood beneath it. Mister Babbit 
watched me with eager, anxious eyes as I worked 
without a sound. He would gladly have helped, 
but he could do nothing to aid me at first, and 
we both feared lest the slightest creak would find 
us out. 

I kept steadily, noiselessly on, until there was 
really a promise of making some headway. Noth- 
ing disturbed us, but the boarding was thick and 
hard, the gnawing must be softly done. The wire 
was stiff as steel always is, and daylight came 
creeping on before I was nearly through. 


A SffABP TRICK 


37 


My instincts warned me not to tarry too long. 
So I piled bits of grass, leaves, and small gravel 
stones np by the place where I had made a little 
pile of sawdust, shook-a-paws with Mister Rabbit, 
and took my leave. 

But the little man behind the wires knew just 
as well as I did that I would return the next night 
if possible, and go at the task again. Of course, 
it was hard to leave him and the fine beginning, 
but his eyes looked very different when I left from 
what they had when I first appeared. They were 
full of hope, sly, quiet, and watchful. 

He went softly back to the wooden house as 
I glided away. Very happy I felt through the 
day. Hope is a wonderful thing! It gives cour- 
age, perseverance, and cheer. I went forth in the 
afternoon, gathered wild strawberry leaves, chick- 
weed, an abundance of sweet clover, and dry grass. 
There should be no lack of food in our refuge, 
when my mate was so happy as to hop homeward 
with me in the small hours of another morning. 

Midnight came again, and still with a tremble 
and a care I reached the hutch under the light 
of twinkling stars. Oh, surely ! There was Mister 
Rabbit at the far corner of the warren, hunched 
up by the weak wire. He gave as bounding a 
welcome as he dared, and his round, bright eyes 
were fairly dancing. 

He had been quietly at work on his own ac- 


38 


MOTHER BUNNY 


count, and the stubborn wire was indeed pushed 
up a little farther. Clearing away the brush and 
pebbles, which I was delighted to see had not been 
noticed, I worked away with a will, taking great 
care all the time not to make the least sound. 

But, oh, dear ! A beautiful Albino that was 
in that quarter of the hutch must have caught 
a hint of a grinding, for out she popped, and see- 
ing Mister Rabbit crouching by the wire, and me 
outside, she was beside us in a twinkling. 

If she would only go back! Mister Rabbit 
tried to lure her by going himself to the little 
house. Ro use ! Miss Bunny White had scented 
out our plan, and knew that freedom for my mate 
was probably near at hand. If there was the 
least chance for her, too, she meant to make the 
most of it. 

I learned then and there that all the petting and 
admiration in the world were as nothing com- 
pared with living a free, wild life. Yet why had 
not the snowy beauty escaped sometime when al- 
lowed to run over the lawn ? She was simply 
too timid. But now, if there was a fair prospect 
of starting off with two others of her kind, oh, 
yes, indeed. Miss Bunny White intended to risk 
it ! 

Well, she made herself useful, poor little dear. 
Seeing the game, she lent her strong teeth in pinch- 


A SHARP TRICK 


39 


ing up that wire, and — snips and witches! but 
we did it ! 

Mister Eabbit was gallant enough to push Miss 
White through the small opening first. She left 
some of her soft, rich fur sticking to the wires, 
and although I knew she was hurt, she was brave 
enough not to make a sign of a whimper. 

Crackers! I was scared nearly white myself 
at the piece of work Mister Kabbit had getting 
through. Half-way out he got stuck, just clean 
stuck, and Bunny White and I had to pull with 
all our might and main, until out he came with 
a bounce that sent us all three over, our heels 
sticking up in the air. 

The next instant we were all cowering under 
the deep shadow of the boards. Fortunately, how- 
ever, a Tabby-cat had sent out a vicious wail some- 
where in the distance at the moment when the 
wire gave,’’ which doubtless prevented its being 
heard. 

But, dear sakes ! there was so much dark gray 
fur all about the little opening, that other Bunnies 
would be sure to see it, and know what it meant. 
But the keepers would most likely see it first, and 
attend to it at once. 

Just for a moment we kept perfectly still. 


CHAPTEK lY. 


THREE RUNAWAYS 


S it grew perfectly quiet, off we started, hop- 



ping along by the edges of the walks, where 
the shadows were deepest, and then one by one we 
crossed the road. 

In the woods we breathed more freely. I took 
the lead, feeling quite proud of the comfortable 
home I could show as the result of my own skill 
and industry. And very grateful we all three 
were when the rock loomed before us, and our 
refuge was safely reached. 

Before Mister Rabbit would go in, however, he 
ran quite a distance farther on, then scratched 
about in different directions, acting very queerly. 
What was he about ? It was some little time before 
he finally came back in his own tracks, and entered 
the refuge. 

I could see how pleased he was at the well- 
made tunnel, but he gave me to understand that 
we must have crooked turnings and several open- 
ings known only to ourselves, giving us a chance 


THREE RUNAWAYS 


41 


to enter the convenient dwelling in a number of 
places. These would be of great use in time of 
danger, or in case an accident happened to one 
of our rooms. 

Poor, pretty little Bunny White had toppled 
over and sprawled herself out as if too much over- 
come by excitement to hold out another moment 
when she entered one of the cosy chambers. It 
was carpeted with brush and weeds, and was indeed 
a nice resting-place. 

But her eyes wore a look of great contentment, 
and she tapped softly with a pink-lined fore paw 
to show how glad, oh, how very glad, she was, to 
find herself in the wide, free woods, where she 
could run and wander at her own sweet will. 

But I trembled for her, fearing that a glimpse 
of her beautiful little person would make a hunter, 
be it either Boy or Man, wild to capture her. 

Mister Babbit let us know that for a little while 
we must keep as close to our refuge as possible. 
Our former keeper would be sure to scour the 
woods in hopes to search us out, and if he got 
an idea of where we were, there would be no rest 
for the sole of our foot, until we should find 
another place in which to hide. 

He was right. Wasn’t I glad we had a pretty 
good store of food inside our new warren! We 
heard footsteps going to and fro a good portion 
of the next morning. I also heard Hero barking 


42 


MOTHER BUNNY 


around the rock, yet he seemed inclined to run 
beyond it. 

Ah, now I knew why Mister Eabbit had run on 
past our home in the night. He was making 
mixed-up, perplexing tracks, because he feared 
that Hero might come assisting the men in finding 
us, by keeping the scent of our poor little toes. 
His instincts told him what to do. 

So Hero went scrambling on past the rock, 
although he would keep running back to it, until, 
getting confused by the many tracks, just as Mis- 
ter Eabbit meant he should, he would go barking 
off again. Our entrance was completely hidden 
by a mass of tangled boughs we had drawn over 
it. 

There were certainly two men with Hero, we 
knew by the tramping, and could also hear voices, 
and we were in terror every moment lest they 
should drag away our screen of sticks and boughs, 
yet we were glad to notice that the men did not 
seem to think we were very near the rock, and 
kept whistling Hero off, as if wishing him to 
follow up the tracks beyond. 

At last they passed on out of hearing, but we 
did not venture out the livelong day, and when 
night came. Mister Eabbit let us understand in 
Eabbit language that he thought they would come 
again at night. And we were very willing to 
make what food we had on hand answer until 


THREE RUNAWAYS 


43 


another day. Anything but being found and cap- 
tured after all our pains and caution! 

Yes, my mate was right again. Long after 
dark we heard Hero’s short, sharp bark, his hunt- 
ing bark,” I called it, and little twigs snapped 
and crackled under the feet of the men as they 
went by. But I was rejoiced at having them pass 
the rock without stopping, as though they had 
given up all thoughts of our being anywhere near 
it. 

The next morning. Mister Babbit decided to 
steal out and find us food, for our supply was 
quite gone. I confess to feeling nervous on see- 
ing him go, but he took several short trips and 
brought clover and weeds enough to last until the 
next day, when we could go and find fodder for 
ourselves. He would go with us the first time, 
and point out places where we could hide quickly, 
should any danger threaten. 

Then a jolly, merry week went by, when six 
pairs of paws did wonderful work underground. 
We became very fond of little Miss White, for the 
pretty dear was like a streak of sunshine in our 
home, and always so willing to help in her gentle, 
delicate way. 

One day I asked myself some questions : “ Who 
made the rocks that were to be a refuge for the 
Conies, and for the Babbits as well ? Who taught 
birds to build nests, spiders to spin a wonderful 


44 


MOTHER BUNNY 


web, and Kabbits to burrow out neat, comfortable 
warrens ? ’’ 

Dear me, I couldn’t tell at all ! I did not know. 
Perhaps I did not need to know. But one thing 
I felt sure of. That Maker ” did not mean that 
we should be chased, captured, or made to suffer. 
Yet we have many foes, and strange little tempers 
of our own that often make trouble for us. IsTo, I 
cannot understand it, and there is no use in trying. 

JSTow I must tell what happened one night, al- 
though it hurts me even now to speak of it. But 
first let me say, I was continually in fear on Bunny 
White’s account. I have hinted as much before. 
Mister Babbit laughed at me, saying I need not 
feel so anxious, no harm had come to her yet, and 
he did not see why any need come. 

But you see. Boy, I had been a mother, and 
was one, and so had the mother instinct that made 
me tremble for fear of what might happen to 
so young and beautiful a creature. And pray 
don’t forget. Boy, that love you who may, no one 
else will ever love you in the same way as your 
mother does. 

Oh, indeed not! Even if you were naughty, 
dreadfully naughty, so that no one else would 
stand by you, there would stand the dear, forgiv- 
ing mother, always full of love and pity for her 
own dear boy. Better far to be good, and make her 
proud and happy. 


THREE RUNAWAYS 


45 


One soft night, when the moon was so bright 
that we thought of eagles, owls, and bats, we had 
agreed to all three start out, going but a little 
way in quest of food for the next day. 

Mister Eabbit went first. Then Bunny White 
skipped joyfully forth, while I stopped to lock 
up a bit, or, in other words, to partly cover our 
door. 

I was just turning to follow the others, when I 
heard a sharp little scream. Thinking I knew 
the sound, I rushed along, but all that could be 
seen for a moment was a flashing of white and 
gray forms, leaves being kicked up, and a whirl 
and a dance such as I should not care to see again. 

I knew it all meant dire peril for little Miss 
Bunny White. She had met a Hare, and the 
fierce creature that always fights us when he can 
was determined to bear her off to his burrow, 
where he would keep her as a beautiful slave. 

But if the small, fair Missy was kind and gen- 
tle as could be when surrounded by friends, and 
treated like the little dear she was, she also could 
and did show fight, plucky fight, when the time 
came for her to defend herself. 

As soon as I fairly took in what was up, with 
one swift look around to see that air and ground 
were free from other enemies, up I pranced just 
as Bunny White dropped to the earth. 

Well^ we had it tooth and nail^ that fighting 


46 


MOTHER BUNNY 


Hare and I. The fur flew as fast as it is said 
to when Mistress Tabby-cat and her enemy, Lord 
Puss, meet in the stilly night, and each claims 
the right of way. 

That means that as neither will turn out an inch 
in the road for the other, there is nothing for it 
but to fly in each other’s faces, and the night is 
apt not to be quite as stilly ” after that. 

I think Eighty Hare and I must have plucked 
at each other for several minutes, when there was 
a crisp rustle in the grass. Eighty Hare gave a 
shrill squeal and bounded away. A snake had 
nearly squeezed his tail off. It went wriggling 
off in one direction as the fighting Hare nearly 
ran his legs off in another. I heard him still 
squealing as he ran. 

Then I turned to the white creature lying still 
as a moonbeam, and like a little patch of snow 
in the soft moonlight. 


CHAPTEE V. 


A WOUNDED BEAUTY 

WHITE was alive. I cannot tell, 
Boj, how thankful I was at that moment 
to see my mate come bounding up. There was no 
need to tell him anything. 

He took Bunny White’s short ears in his mouth, 
while I, in a way known to Babbits, held her paws, 
and very soon she was lying on a bed of leaves 
in our blessed refuge, and Mister Kabbit hopped 
away to fetch the doctor. 

We know Doctor Bunny, the moment our eye 
lights on him. If only he wore spectacles, I feel 
sure you would say his picture was complete, and 
almost any creature alive would know him for a 
funny little medicine-man. 

He is a light mottled gray, larger than most 
of his brother Babbits, with tall, importantly 
cocked ears, and a knowing face. The very way 
he blinks seems to say: 

Here I come ! And all the wisdom of all 


47 


48 


MOTHER BUNNY 


the Bunny-pills is wrapped up in my plump, gray 
body.” 

Yet glad enough I was to see him in our bur- 
row, and very anxiously I watched as he went 
about finding out whether little Miss White could 
live. After a time I wanted to poke him, and 
cry: 

Pray open your mouth. Doctor Bunny, and 
not keep me waiting so long for what I am on pins 
and needles to know ! ” 

But you couldn’t hurry his Importance. Oh, 
no, not in the least ! He peeped and he peered, 
lifted a fore paw, then a hind paw, tapped the 
pretty breast, and pressed against the snowy 
haunches. 

The white creature winced once or twice, but 
made no sound. Then at last Doctor Bunny let 
me know that he did not think the white Bunny 
would ever go outside of the burrow again. 

I dropped a Babbit tear, in fact, several of 
them, for this little creature had grown very dear 
to me; and as for Mister Babbit, he went over 
into a corner, did himself up into a ball of for- 
lorn-looking fur, and murmured something about 
being so young and fair to die.” 

But the slow old doctor made us understand 
that he did not say die,” but that Bunny White 
would probably never be able to go out of the 
burrow again. 



“BUT YOU couldn’t HURRY HIS IMPORTANCE, Oil, NO, 

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A WOUNDED BEAUTY 


49 


Then he stamped on leaves, got them together, 
and rolled the white creature all up in a wad 
of them. He put little twigs under her paws to. 
keep them in place, and a cushion of dry mosses 
under her head. He showed us that she must 
be fed slowly and carefully, and not be moved in 
the least. 

If the doctor was slow and provoking, and a 
queer old fellow to look at, he was also sure and 
faithful, two great things in a medicine-man. 

Twice again before morning he came to our 
warren. Once with some strange little leaf pads, 
which he put all about Bunny White’s face, I 
think for her to smell of. Then again with a bunch 
of sticky-looking leaves he had to pull apart. 

He put pats of the moist leaves here and there 
under a hurt joint or about a wound. Hext he 
put some dried herbs by themselves, which were 
to be all the kind of food she was to have until 
he came again. 

For two days I never once saw Bunny White’s 
pink eyes. And yet I do not think she suffered, 
unless she tried to move. But she seldom stirred. 
I think. Boy, that Doctor Bunny put those pads 
about her face to keep her stupid. For whenever 
I fed her, — and I was glad to see she seemed 
to like the herbs, — I would catch a smell that 
with all my knowledge of greens and grasses I 
had never smelled before. 


50 


MOTHER BUNNY 


And every time after being near them I would 
feel drowsy. Strange, isn’t it, that a Bunny-man 
should find out how to ease and put to sleep his 
little fellows. 

Well, time went on, and little by little the 
wounded beauty came back to health and some 
strength. But she could not hop for a long, long 
time, and when she began to, it was so slowly, that 
she would merely hump and hitch about, and then 
we understood why the knowing old doctor had said 
she probably would never go out of the burrow 
again. 

Yet she does go out quite often, although never 
to venture more than a few steps beyond one of 
the entrances of the warren. But in pleasant 
weather she greatly enjoys browsing around in the 
fresh, cool, woodland shade, or the soft sunshine. 

Whenever she ventures out, however, either Mis- 
ter Babbit or Mother Bunny hover near. For 
in case of accident or sudden alarm, she could 
neither defend herself nor move quickly away. And 
we are only very glad to watch over and protect 
her. 

Unhappy ? Indeed not ! She is one of the very 
most contented, cheerful creatures you ever saw. 
And I do believe she thinks her injuries were 
after all a blessing. She would always have been 
in great danger of having her liberty taken from 
her. And she would far, far rather be lame and 


A woundi;d beauty 


51 


partly helpless, with sweet freedom in our comfor- 
table yet wild burrow, than to be kept as a pam- 
pered pet in the finest private hutch in the world. 

Then, had she gone much abroad, her snowy 
coat would always have been quickly seen, and 
other animals besides Hares might have been jeal- 
ous of her, and done her harm. But in the refuge 
under the rock, and well beyond it, she dwells in 
safety, is sheltered and fed in cold and stormy 
weather, and whenever she chooses, has cheery 
peeps out-of-doors. 

Then, too, we have a great deal of company. 
Our children come often to see us, and as we have 
now occupied our warren for years, other Babbit 
friends come frequently for neighborly calls, often 
bringing some nice titbit for the lame Bunny they 
know all about. 

She is so useful, too. Ho matter how long Mis- 
ter Babbit or Mother Bunny may have to be away, 
she is always in the home to welcome us on our 
return. 

We have been through a great deal since this 
took place. Many families of hahy-Bunnies have 
come to us, and we have extended our burrow until 
it is as spacious a home for a Bunny-warren as 
could he desired. 

Only our last brood of Bunnies is with us. 
As new troops of children came, the older ones 
disappeared. There is many a snug burrow in 


52 


MOTHER BUNNY 


these woods filled with my children and grand- 
children. But I like the old home best of all. 

Ah, that sly look again! No, no. Boy, safe as 
it might be for you alone to know the place of our 
refuge, yet if you sometime should catch a peep 
at Miss Bunny White, it might come about that 
others would see her also. 

And you know that Great Book said we were but 
a feeble folk,^’ which shows we would not be able 
to make defence against objects much stronger than 
ourselves. 

And then again. Babbits born in captivity like 
Mister Babbit and Mother Bunny can never make 
as strong a fight as a wild Babbit would. So, 
seeing we have kept our house a secret place for 
several years, my instincts tell me it will be de- 
cidedly best to continue keeping it safely hidden. 

As to rocks, the woods here are full of them. 
One is but little different from another, so rest 
content, while health is coming back to your sturdy 
young frame, with hearing Mother Bunny’s story 
from her own lips. It is more than most Boys 
ever get a chance to do. 

Truth to tell, I never heard of any other Boy 
in the world that a Babbit talked to, so that he 
could understand. 


CHAPTEK VI. 


A DROLL FAMILY 

N OW I am glad, Boy, we meet again, for a 
funny thing has happened since you were 
last perched on the comfortable stump. 

Let me see, it was last week that I saw you, 
and the next day after you were here it began 
raining, and kept on for two days and nights. 
And we furry creatures of the Bunny family are 
noted for being scarce enough as soon as rain 
begins to fall. 

Well, it was five nights ago, after rain had 
been falling until after midnight, that Mister Rab- 
bit kept running up to one of our walls and listen- 
ing, and Bunny White declared she heard cries 
that sounded like calls of distress. 

You see, it is very likely that in burrowing 
through the earth, any animal might dig so near 
some other burrow, that sounds could come through 
at some very thin place in the wall of earth. 

We had been scooping out a new passage in a 
winding direction that would bring us out near 
63 


54 


MOTHER BUNNY 


a place in the woods where was an abundance of 
acorns, and certain weeds of which we are very 
fond. 

The summer is running away, and all the under- 
ground families will soon begin laying in cold- 
weather stores. So, although our house is already 
pretty roomy, we take pleasure in adding to its 
convenience now and then, also taking care not 
to work our way through to some other abode. 

More than once we have pushed through to 
an opening that we knew meant some one else’s 
front or back door. Then we would at once have 
to go to work and throw up solid earthworks be- 
tween the passages. 

I^ow when both Mister Eabbit and Bunny 
White thought that some animals were in trouble 
not far away from us, we all three ran to an end 
of the new tunnel, and sure enough, there came 
a sound of weeps,’^ as we call it, dimly heard 
on the other side. 

We could not go outside in the rain to find 
out what was the matter, and so the quickest way 
was going to he to push the earth away at the 
thin spot, just a little to begin with, take a peep 
into the next room, and offer help if it was needed. 

I^eeded indeed ! It took but a pick or two to 
break through into another burrow, and, cock-a- 
roo ! what a fix ! 

We found ourselves in a wonderful set of rooms. 


A DROLL FAMILY 


55 


Keallj, I had never seen such workmanship. There 
must have been a separate room for each member 
of the family, for each little section was fitted 
up for the use of one small creature. 

But this is what had happened: We had come 
upon a family of moles. And I think they must 
have been in their dining-room, having a midnight 
lunch, when down came the roof, nearly smother- 
ing them. 

In other words, the earth had caved, and as 
a heap of small stones must have been directly over 
the burrow, they could not dig themselves out, 
so the poor little things were just buried in their 
own house. 

It is seldom such a thing as this happens. 
Instinct, the wonderful gift that leads and teaches 
dumb creatures, somehow shows at what depth a 
tunnel in the ground should be made. But every- 
body and everything makes a mistake sometimes, 
and the moles had made their dining-room in too 
shallow an opening. Perhaps the heap of stones 
deceived them. 

^N'ow moles and Babbits are not particularly 
friendly. But have you never read. Boy, that 
distress and need of help will make even enemies 
kind to each other ? 

Why, right here let me tell you a story I once 
heard my keeper tell, about what a mouse did 
for a fox. 


56 


MOTHER BUNNY 


You know Keynard — another name for Mister 
Fox — would snap up a mouse quicker than a 
wink, if he chanced to see one scudding through 
the field. But this poor Reynard, with all his 

foxy ’’ slyness, got caught in a trap, and do his 
best he could not get out. 

But there was one place where the wire spring 
was tied by a stout cord to a tree, hut way out- 
side the trap, where Reynard could not possibly 
reach it. 

Well, along came Mousey, and saw in a twink 
the fix Mister Reynard was in. And his lord- 
ship, in that dangerous pass, was not too proud 
to make a bleat and a whine, begging Miss Mousey 
to help him. 

So, being a good-natured little thing. Mousey 
set to work with her sharp teeth, and lo ! in a 
little while she had let down the spring, and out 
leaped Reynard, the happiest fox alive! Then 
he turned about and actually made a how to Miss 
Mousey, which was his way of giving thanks. 

And now, when we saw a family of moles 
fiattened out under such a weight of earth, sticks, 
and stones that they could not even get at their 
mouths or claws to gnaw or to scratch, to work 
we went. Mister Rabbit, Bunny White, and Mother 
Bunny, and began trying to set them free. The 
children were all in a far part of the burrow, and 
so could not help us. 


A DROLL FAMILY 


57 


We soon saw that two of ns, Mister Rabbit and 
I, wonld have to go out in all the dampness before 
much could be done. But it is very selfish to 
stop to think of barm to ourselves when another 
creature is in great danger. 

Out we went, and my ! how hard we worked 
poking away at the heavy mass that was pinning 
the poor moles down. After a time, back we went 
inside, and what do you think? All we could 
do was to pull the moles out backward by their 
little stumpy tails. 

Have you ever seen moles ? And do you know 
how they look ? Their fine gray fur, almost black, 
is like velvet so beautifully thick and downy. They 
have no necks to speak of, and their short, stumpy 
legs and feet are hare, just as bare as your arm. 

The tail is so short it was hard to grab it. You 
could not find any ears if you were to search 
for them a long time, nor would you be likely to 
find any eyes. Most people believe a mole is 
blind, but this is not so, although their tiny eyes 
are not much larger than a fig or cranberry seed. 
But they surely can tell light from darkness, and 
can hear and smell keenly. 

They have sharp teeth, and can bite right 
smartly, and their appetite is something tremen- 
dous. In fact, if they had to go without food 
even for a little while, they would not live. They 
eat things that crawl, moist foods, baby mice, and 


58 


MOTHER BUNNY 


birds, when they can get them, and, unlike us, 
they drink a great deal of water. 

Again unlike us, they do not cover up the doors 
of their homes with brush or twigs, but throw up 
a little hillock of earth, wdifch we should not con- 
sider a wise thing to do. For it is plainly seen, 
and owls or bats, or perhaps Mistress Puss, might 
watch, hoping to see a mole come out. Then, 
scree-e-e ! 

Still, the older moles are very quick to scent 
out danger, and keep a sharp watch over the little 
ones, and all the underground creatures take care 
of themselves and their young in a way that 
is surprising. 

Well, we toiled away, and although it was slow 
work, yet we pulled fourteen moles out from the 
hard pile that was over them. Some were little 
bits of things, and how you would have laughed 
could you have seen the way a few of the totties 
came out! 

We would draw out a big mole by the tail, and 
it would be holding a little one in its teeth by 
the back where a neck should be. Or, out we 
would pull another big fellow by the knob of a 
tail, and in its claws would be another nob of a 
tail. Once a procession of three came struggling 
out, two clutching another by the leg. 

There is generally a disposition on the part 
of the smaller animals to help one another when 


A DROLL FAMILY 


59 


in trouble. We made a night of it, for after our 
poor friends were out, we assisted them in making 
a passage through to the other door of their house. 
Then we left them. 

It took us all of two days to build a good, thick 
partition between the two burrows. But we like 
to work, and very snug and tidy we had our house 
again, long before the moles could get theirs in 
order. 

But yesterday afternoon there came a smart 
rap at our door. I went and very cautiously 
peeped out. The scrap of a tail of a mole could 
be seen through the opening. I at once let him 
in. What do you think ? He had come, inviting 
us three. Mister Babbit, Bunny White, and Mother 
Bunny, to a supper at his burrow last night. 

Well, we went, and of all the feasts ! First, 
however, we were shown his house. Why, Boy, 
we went into room after room, as many as twelve 
of them, and, just as I had imagined, each mole 
had a room of its own, except the baby-mites. 

Over the rooms was a round gallery, and still 
a second gallery over the first one. These were 
full of passages leading into more rooms yet, and 
also to the openings in the hillocks through which 
they go out into the woods. 

So I found that from outside they could plunge 
through these hillocks or funny little doors, and 
be at once in a gallery, or side-room, where it 


60 


MOTHEB BUNNY 


would be hard for any creature besides a mole to 
follow them. Keally, it is astonishing how much 
the moles know, and with what skill they build 
their houses. 

The long dining-room was at the end of a wind- 
ing passage, and higher up than the rest of the 
rooms, having no other room or gallery over it. 
Here we found green nuts, cabbage leaves, celery 
tops, green grapes, water cresses, and tender bits 
of fishes called minnows, freshly caught. 

For let me tell you that moles are famous swim- 
mers, and can not only find food in the ground, 
the garden, and field, but can plunge into the 
mud or the water, and snap up a plump little 
frog, or catch plenty of small fishes. They seemed 
surprised that we did not eat either the crisp water- 
cresses or the dainty little fishes, as they did not 
know that Rabbits eat only drier kinds of food. 

But alack and alas ! What do you think again ? 
The earth must he very soft, crumbly, and deceit- 
ful, in the direction of the home of the moles. 

We were nearly through our feasting, when 
there was a falling, a thumping, a squeaking, 
squealing, and kicking, such as I had never heard 
and seen before. And head over heels, or, rather, 
heels over head, and tails in air, came a whole 
family of mice, tumbling pell-mell right on to our 
supper-table ! 

They had been burrowing in a shallow hole over 



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A DROLL FAMILY 


61 


that unfortunate dining-room, when their floor 
gave way, and such a funny mix-up of dirt, mice, 
moles, and Eabbits, you never saw! 

Alack again I In less than a minute there was 
the most dreadful fight 1 All I could see was 
dark gray mole-fur, mouse tails, little hare legs, 
bright eyes, tiny ears, and flying figures. 

It may not seem very brave or noble, but Mister 
Rabbit, Bunny White, and Mother Bunny sneaked 
off as quickly and as quietly as possible. After 
all, it was the best thing we could have done. 
We did not wish to he mixed up in such a battle. 
The moles may think we ought to have stayed and 
helped fight the mice. Yet why should we ? I am 
very glad we carne peacefully away. 

What the moles will do next, I have no idea. 
What is that loud clang I hear ? Ah, your dinner- 
bell. Well, good-hy. Boy, perhaps some day you 
will call again. 


CHAPTEE VII. 


A FAR - AWAY PARTY 


ISTOTHEE fortnight and it is getting snappy 



outside. Of course, there is always some- 
thing new to tell. But first let me say that the 
mole family that was near us has moved away. 

This was wisdom on their part, as I think they 
were in a soft spot, and too near other burrows. 

I must say I am rather glad they have gone, 
for I am afraid they are of a hot temper, and it 
is not best to he on too intimate terms with animals 
whose natures you are not much acquainted with. 
They thought we did them a kindness, as we 
certainly tried to, and they gave us a supper to 
show their gratitude. h[ow we go our separate 
ways in a perfectly friendly spirit. 

Day before yesterday one of my grandchildren 
came over from a far piece of woods, and invited 
us all, nine in number, to a great family party. 

Bunny White thanked him prettily, hut said 
she could not think of hopping such a distance, 
so should make herself very happy at home. The 


62 


A FAR-AWAY PARTY 


63 


rest of us accepted the invitation with jolly 
thanks. 

JSTow it was going to take a long time for us 
to reach my grandchild’s warren, and a long time 
to get back home. For, you see, we must go with 
great caution. Because, for eight Babbits to go 
streaking over a long piece of woods is no very safe 
affair. We must slip along one by one, keeping 
well apart, and each running to cover every little 
while. 

Always, everywhere when abroad, we must keep 
in mind that we are a feeble folk,” with but 
small strength with which to fight other animals, 
or run away from the swift feet of men-creatures. 

We all had our adventures. We started early 
that same afternoon, expecting to return the next 
day, which was yesterday. 

First, I stopped to pity and help a family so 
small and forlorn, that is, forlorn in view of what 
had happened to them, that it is one of the great 
mysteries in Nature, how or why such ruin could 
befall them. And it is also a great wonder how 
such tiny specks of creatures can plan, contrive, 
build, and manage as they do. 

It was a family, or, rather, a colony of ants. 
Oh, the leastest mites of beings, and so capable ! 

Dear, dear ! A Boy had scraped away the cover- 
ings of several of their hillocks, and laid bare 
their cute little homes, that were already well 


64 


MOTHER BUNNY 


filled with winter stores. I^ever could I have 
seen the inside of those houses, had not the roofs 
been scratched away as they were. 

And think of it: the Boy did it just for fun! 

What would you say or what would you do, 
if some monstrous giant should come along, and, 
just to amuse himself, should tear away the roof 
of your house, ruin the furniture, crush your little 
brothers and sisters, and then run laughing away ? 

Ah ! I see you have no words in which to tell 
what you would say or what you would do. But 
I think I know something about how you would 
feel. 

These brave little objects went right about build- 
ing their houses over again, and — do let me tell 
you! Way underground, these tiny creatures had 
as complete homes as one would find anywhere. 
Why, Boy,’ I can scarcely describe to you the in- 
telligence shown by the ants. 

And this brings back to me, what one of those 
men-visitors that came to the hutch one day, said 
was in that Greatest Book in the world, about the 
ants. 

A sluggard is a very lazy person who hates 
to work, but it is a person,’’ for all that, a crea- 
ture belonging to the very highest order of beings 
there is. Yet the Great Book said : Go to the 
ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, and be 
wise.” Then in another place, it said: 


A FAB-A^t^Ar FAUTY 


65 


The ants are a people not strong, yet they 
prepare their meat in the summer.’’ 

Kow I think to be mentioned twice, and to be 
called a people ” in the Greatest Book there ever 
was, is something to be exceeding proud of. But 
to have the human people, those most knowing 
creatures that ever were made, sent to them as 
examples of smart little workers, I don’t know 
what to say about such a grand thing. 

Then to think of their long line as a family, 
what men call antiquity! People are proud of 
belonging to old families, but to come down in a 
straight line almost from the beginning of the 
world, my, how distinguished ! 

Ants are sometimes called emmets,” I think, 
for once a nice, sober-looking man said in my hear- 
ing, as he stood gazing down at an ant-hill: 


“ ‘ These Emmets, how little they are in our eyes, 
We tread them to dust and a troop of them dies 
Without our regard or concern. 

Yet, wise as we are, if we went to their school, 
There’s many a sluggard and many a fool 
Some lessons of wisdom might learn.’ ” 


Lessons, I should say! Why, they had regular 
little caves, with passage after passage leading 
to room after room, some of them all of twelve 
inches or a foot high. Only think of it, does it 


66 


MO THEE BUNNY 


seem possible ? And the rooms were built with 
an eye to their special uses. 

Some were nurseries, or baby-rooms, some were 
guest-chambers, others store-rooms, still others, 
work-rooms, and sitting or family rooms. 

And what do you say to thousands and thou- 
sands of tiny mites living in one great community, 
or, we might say, as one great family. 

Do they always live peaceably, you ask? It is 
queer how such things can be found out. 
Yet they are. It is told that they sometimes have 
fierce little fights, and, funny as it is, they will 

hold spite,’’ or remember a spat a long time. 
I do not doubt, however, that they are quiet and 
good-natured most of the time. 

They hear and smell more quickly than people 
can, and their brightness and shrewdness are a 
never-ending wonder to men. It is said, too, that 
the brain of an ant is the largest in proportion 
to its size of any known living creature. 

Men who have watched them closely think they 
have a kind of language in which they make their 
ideas known to each other. They appear to have 
regular builders, watchmen, nurses, and teachers 
among them. And at the entrances to their little 
homes they appeared to have the watchmen keep- 
ing guard to prevent the specks of children from 
running away. 

There were long,, evenly scooped tunnels that 


A FAR- AWAY PARTY 


67 


led to their hunting-grounds and playgrounds, for 
after working hours are over they dance and skip, 
frolic and frisk about, in the liveliest, merriest 
fashion. 

How do you suppose they get from one wide 
settlement to another ? By building bridges, if 
you please ! They visit relatives and friends, often 
greeting them with great joy. The scraps of 
mothers or nurses tend the children with great 
care, and show much fondness for them. 

They have black insects that they look after with 
constant care. Bless you, they are their cows ! The 
ants know just how to tap or press against them, 
and from tiny tubes in their bodies there comes 
a sweet juice, honey-like, and answering for milk 
for the ants. 

It does seem as if the tiny bits of creatures we 
call ants, or emmets, had power to reason things 
out. DonT ever put your foot. Boy, on the little 
hillock that leads to one of their fine, perfect cities. 
It must be a sin to do it wilfully. 

Such smart, active atoms deserve help, not de- 
struction. The ants I saw had stored away syrup, 
grain, and seeds enough, I should think, to last 
them all winter. 

I had to stop and help the poor little things, 
which I did by getting together loose material, 
such as hair, threads, clumps of fibre, and feathers. 


68 


MOTHER BUNNY 


These I laid up close to their spoiled home, then 
left them. 

I had spent an hour assisting the ants, and 
after leaving them had not gone far when I saw 
Mister Rabbit and two of my children peeping 
out from under a rock, and beckoning wildly. F ast 
as I could I hurried over to the new refuge. 

Other animals must have begun a home there, 
for we had just room enough, the four of us, to 
creep into the hole beneath an end of the rock. 
We kept the younger ones in the close shelter, while 
Mister Rabbit and I peeped slyly around from be- 
hind the brush near the opening. Danger was 
somewhere. I soon knew what. 

A woodchuck went slowly dragging by, a 
scrubby, disagreeable-looking animal, with coarse, 
bristly hair sticking up all over its body, the red 
skin showing underneath. 

It went with a tagging, cautious movement, and 
I got the idea that it was dodging, or trying to 
dodge, some danger. All at once it ran up to 
a tree, and what do you think it did ? 

There is a curious animal in the South, the 
opossum, which the black people call possum,” 
that when hunted will go into a tree, hang itself 
up by the tail, head-down, bare feet dangling, 
shamming dead. 

This woodchuck, also named groUnd-hog, must 
have seen the possums pretending to he dead. 



“AND OFF HP: darted AT A BREAKNECK SPEED, THE 
WOODCHUCK CLUTCHING HIM ABOUT THE NECK ” 



•. 'I 




A FAH-AWAT FAFTT 


69 


For the clumsy creature humped up to the low- 
hanging branch of a walnut-tree, and as its tail 
was scarcely long enough to curl around the limb, 
it just clasped its hind feet over it, closed its eyes, 
and pretended to be dead. 

In a moment, along came a young man, who 
laughed aloud as he saw the woodchuck’s game. 
He lifted a gun, and was just going to fire, when 
— scoot, went a fox just a bit down the foot- 
path. 

The young hunter thought he had rather shoot 
the fox than the woodchuck. Eeynard had seen 
him, however, and kept a sharp eye out as the 
young man hid behind some bushes, the better to 
take aim. 

And what was more, that crafty woodchuck had 
peeped open an eye and saw the fox preparing to 
make a run. My mate and I shook with laughter 
at what happened next. 

As Keynard slid under the walnut-tree, down 
dropped Mister Woodchuck right on to his back. 
The fox thought he was shot, and off he darted 
at a breakneck speed, the woodchuck clutching 
him about the neck. 

The hunter fired, but missed his aim, for up 
a tiny hill, then down into a valley, we could see 
in the distance Reynard and his passenger scud- 
ding for their lives. I thought I knew what that 
crafty woodchuck would do. Keep his seat on 


70 


MOTHER BUNNY 


Reynard’s back, until he rushed into some deep 
hollow, when down his Chuckship would slide, and 
scratch out of sight before the fox had missed 
him. 

Reynard is sly, but a woodchuck is a match for 
him. J^early all swift-running animals are sly. 
I suppose they have need to be. 


CHAPTEK VIII. 


MOEE ABOUT THE PAETY 

LL this had detained us again, hut now Mister 



Kabbit sailed out afresh, going about half a 
rood, or twenty yards, then as he ran to a slight 
cover, I started off the children one at a time, 
and soon followed them. 

Dear me ! Were we never to reach that party 
ground ? As I drew near an elm-tree, I heard 
my mate tapping with his hind paws, always a 
sign of impatience or warning, and there were all 
the children in hiding, this time in a large hollow 
in the trunk of the tree. In a trice Mister Rabbit 
and I were also in the friendly hollow. 

Ah, they had seen the fox again. The hunter 
had headed him off, and he was harking hack 
the way he had gone, leading his pursuer a great 
chase, but just then, oh, such a strange thing as 
came about! I cannot think of it now, without 
a shudder. 

Up rushed that fox, and quicker than a flash 
darted into a wide hole just under where we were 


71 


72 


MOTHER BUNNY 


hiding. Imagine it! Eight Bunnies in the same 
tree with a fox ! 

Indeed, I can assure you, wild creatures need 
to have all their wits about them. 

]^ow I see a question in your eyes, Boy. You 
are wondering if, after all, a gentle little animal 
like Mother Bunny would not be better off and 
enjoy life more, in a sheltered warren, watched 
over and cared for by a keeper, than to run the 
risks of a wild, forest life. 

E’o ! a thousand times, no 1 I have settled that 
question long ago. And then — as to having a 
keeper, and being watched over? Boy, we have 
a Keeper, and we are watched over. I feel just 
as sure of it as if some spirit of the air had whis- 
pered it in my high-cocked ear. It must be so. 
And it makes even a Mother Bunny feel safe. 

There was now only one thing for us to do. 
And there was only one thing for Reynard to do. 
The fox must simply wait for the hunter to go 
away, then we must simply wait for the fox to 
go away. 

Yet so swift had been the movements of the fox, 
that the man with the gun looked about in per- 
plexity when he suddenly disappeared. 

Do you know anything about the patience of a 
hunter ? Another hour went by while that man 
waited, poking about and peering around, yet not 
going any distance from the spot where he last 


MORE ABOUT THE PARTY 


73 


saw that bushy tail. And, oh, goodness! He 
actually tapped the tree with his gun where we 
were all in hiding. 

But he did not look as high as to the opening 
where my poor family were squeezed together, and 
sticks and brush must have fallen across the mouth 
of the hole where Reynard had crept in. 

Then came events that scared me nearly out of 
my acute little senses. The hunter had turned his 
back and was moving ofP, when a pretty gray 
squirrel ran across the place where the fox lay 
concealed. How wouldnT you suppose that his 
foxship would have been too thankful at a prospect 
of escape with his own life just then, to have made 
a dash at a poor little squirrel ? 

But no, out he sprang, and already had a paw 
on the squirreFs furry back, when the hunter 
looked around. In less time than I can tell it. 
Mister Box had let go his game, and scrambled 
back into the protecting hole, and the squirrel was 
way up over our heads, chattering his joy and 
thanks at his deliverance. 

Ah, but Reynard the fox had made a grievous 
mistake! In that instant when his greedy paw 
closed over the squirrel’s back, the hunter saw 
him. Alack! and he also saw the quick plunge 
Reynard made into some hollow at the foot of 
the tree. 

In an instant man and gun were at the old elm, 


74 


MOTHEB BUNNY 


and the butt of a gun was thrust into the hole 
there had been no chance to cover. That did no 
good. 

Then the man, with a sharp jack-knife, cut 
down a long branch from the tree and pushed it 
into the hollow, exclaiming as he did so, Aha, 
Mister Fox, I’ve got you now ! ” 

But the long, prodding branch did no good. 
The man stopped and thought. I could see he 
was trying to plan what to do next. I trembled 
all over, for it was plain to see that the hunter 
did not mean to go away again until he had made 
Reynard come out of hiding. 

Would he dig behind the hollow, and so drive 
him out ? Ho, he had neither pick nor shovel, 
and no man could dig with his hands as we could 
with our paws. What he would plan in his sharp 
mind was a mystery. 

All at once I saw him gather up bits of light 
twigs, chips, and dr)" leaves. With his jack-knife 
he stripped up bark, and split a branch or two 
into fine pieces of wood. Hext, from his pocket 
he took a newspaper. All these, twigs, bark, chips, 
and paper, he put before the mouth of the hole. 
Then out from another pocket came a card of 
matches. 

Mercy on us ! He was going to make a fire 
before Reynard’s door and smohe him out ! 

Would it not also choke us to death? Mister 


MORE ABOUT THE PARTY 


75 


Rabbit sank back into the hollow, cowering down 
with the children. You may laugh if you want 
to at my curiosity, but midst all the danger I was 
fascinated, and bound to see the matter out as far 
as I could. I did not see any too much. 

Boo, loo ! In a few moments more I thought 
my eyes would be put out. Up came a cloud of 
smoke that nearly blinded me, yet I did see the 
fox come with a mighty spring out of the hole 
and dart like a flash into a thicket of bushes. 
There was the sharp report of a gun as I, too, 
flopped way into the hollow, scaring Mister Rabbit 
almost to death, for he seemed to think that I 
was shot. 

Oh, dear, no. I was all right, only so nearly 
suffocated with smoke that I had to make a kind 
of bark, my throat and eyes were so full of it. 
There really was less of it inside the hollow. 

Was the tree on Are? The children cried out 
that it must be, but Mother Bunny said she did 
not think a tree would take Are as easily as all 
that. And after what seemed a long time, there 
was less smoke, and soon as I dared I peeped forth. 

Yes, the smoke was going down. Ho sign of 
hunter or fox was abroad. Whether Reynard was 
killed, or whether his fleet limbs bore him away 
in safety, I do not know. One thing was almost 
certain : he would not come prowling around that 
elm-tree again in a hurry. 


76 


MO TREE BUNNY 


Surely you would have laughed had you seen 
the sorry-looking troop of Bunnies that came limp- 
ing out of the tree-hollow. We were all so cramped 
that at first we could scarcely stand. And the 
whole crowd blinked as though their eyes refused 
to stay open. Some of the children declared their 
legs were broken, but when Mother Bunny said, 

Oh, well, then we shall have to limp back home 
and give up going to the party,’’ they decided that 
the brisk little limbs were not quite broken, and 
we might as well go on. 

So off started Mister Babbit, then the children. 
Mother Bunny, as usual, going last of all. Every- 
thing that a Mother Bunny sees teaches her some- 
thing, and I had learned something on that trip 
which was to help me bravely before long. It 
had to do with that card of matches the hunter 
had used. I picked up what he had left, and 
hid them safely on a limb of the tree, to find and 
take with me on the return trip. 

It was growing dusky in the woods as we again 
streaked along, going steadily on this time. All 
had reached the party-warren but myself, when 
twiddling along the forest-path I saw an enormous 
Hare. 

I was not in a mood for fighting, and tripped 
nimbly to cover under a tangle close by, watching 
the high-tempered fellow as he ambled along, stop- 
ping every half -minute to rear up on his hind 


MOBE ABOUT THE PARTY 


77 


legs, cock up his ears, and listen to any sounds 
that might excite him. I was to ’hear from that 
same fellow later. Very glad I was to have seen 
him first, however, as I much preferred to attend 
the party with all my fur on. 

At length I was there. They say. Boy, that 
after a sailor has had a long, hard voyage across 
the sea, he forgets all the storms and perils as 
soon as he strikes land, and finds himself in a 
snug, safe harbor. 

And just so I forgot woodchucks, foxes, hunters, 
and smoke, guns and Hares, on finding myself 
in the fine, winding, extensive burrow of my 
grandchildren. Such a fine place as we had 
reached, and only think, I had great-grandchildren 
in that burrow ! 

Young mothers nowadays, even in the animal 
kingdom, keep making improvements on what 
their parents and grandparents had, and the baby- 
rooms in this burrow were fitted up beyond any- 
thing I had ever seen in Bunny nurseries. The 
mothers had carried feathers of birds into them, 
making regular little feather-beds, mixed with 
Bunny-fur. They are now thought to be more 
healthful than all made of fur. 

And may I be preserved from shaking to death 
with laughter, but dear sakes ! the doctor Bunnies 
do not think that either fur or feather pillows 
are good for furry babies, they prefer hair. So 


78 


MOTHER BUNNY 


hair pillows were hunched up under the heads 
of the tiny mites. 'Now did you ever ! 

We had to go all through the burrow, visiting 
brood-chambers, sleeping-rooms, store-rooms, eat- 
ing-rooms, living-rooms, kitchen, halls, entry-ways, 
archways, and porches. Every little while we 
would feel fresh air about us, and this we found 
was because of the many covered entrances, far 
more than we have in our burrow. 

I cannot begin to tell of the good things we had 
to eat. Leaves and herbs, dried berries, sweet 
weeds, tender roots, vegetable tops, nuts, and fine 
sweet corn. Some of the older, stronger Bunnies 
had to go for the corn. But sometimes the farmer 
leaves a lot cut down, but not taken from the 
husk, and corn, husk, and silky tassel, when a 
little dry, are all very sweet to our taste. 

We went out and danced by moonlight, some 
of the older Bunnies watching in turn that no 
danger appeared. Nothing alarmed us, and we 
tripped on pink and merry toes to the music of 
a rustling breeze until the moon hid her head and 
daylight was not far off. 

Oh, how shocking for old Bunnies! Yet it 
did us good, and after the merry revel we tumbled 
into soft beds, and slept until noontime. Then 
after feasting on the plenty still left for us, we 
started for home. The party had been a great 
success. 



“I RACED UP, GRABBED HIM BY THE EAH, AND GAVE 
IT A TWEAK THAT MADE HIM DROP MY CHILI)” 




MORE ABOUT THE PARTY 


79 


Do you suppose that in setting forth on the 
home trip we thought of the perils of the day 
before, and dreaded it? Xot a bit of it! We 
thought it fun I Jnst as long as woodsy creatures 
suffer no harm, they like to dart, scramble, hide, 
kick, and scratch about. We have bright eyes, 
acute ears, so can see, hear, and also smell, danger. 
Our feet are brisk, even if we cannot make the 
speed of many four-legged creatures. 

So we are only too glad to do our own digging 
and building, and go on independent little jour- 
neys whenever and wherever we like; can’t you 
see what sport it is? 

We travelled homewards as we went, one by 
one. Mister Eabbit took the lead, the children 
came next. Mother Bunny brought up the rear. 
Only the too-hooting of a couple of owls sent us 
all in hiding once. Mister Rabbit had reached 
home, so had the children, all but one, when I 
heard a rush and squeak. 

Then I saw a sight that set my blood on fire. 
The same old Hare I had seen popping and rear- 
ing the day before had in his clutch one of my 
children. So ho ! ” I thought, that is your 
game, is it? Going to make a serv^ant of one of 
my choice young Bunnies ! I reckon not. Mister 
Hare!” 

I raced up, grabbed him by the ear, and gave 
it a tweak that made him drop my child quite as 


80 


MOTHER BUNNY 


quickly as he had picked it up. Bunny ran home, 
while the Hare-rogue and I had it hot and 
scratchy. I was getting exhausted when Mister 
Babbit arrived on the battle-ground. The young 
Bunny had told him about the trouble. 

Two against one is pretty hard for the one, 
but the Hare fought us both until I don’t believe 
he could see out of his eyes, then he toppled over. 
His rich chinchilla fur was flying about, for in 
truth he was a handsome fellow, but he looked 
pretty well plucked as he lay there, heels drawn 
up and his eyes closed. 

We left him to come to” as best he could; 
no danger the rebel would die. I stopped only 
long enough to get the matches I had put aside 
the day before, then wobbled home with Mister 
Babbit, both of us a bit lame in the joints. Bunny 
White had a flne supper waiting for us, and after 
the fun and frolic, the travelling and the adven- 
tures, it seemed perfectly beautiful to be in our 
own comfortable home again. 


CHAPTEE IX. 


MY MATCHES AHD A TRAP 

ETTIXG plump and rugged, aren^t you, 



Boy? That is fine, because I know from 
certain signs that your parents are getting ready 
to take you back to your city home and your 
school, where you will study through the long, 
bright winter, fitting yourself to be a man some- 


time. 


DonT smile, will you, if I give just one 
piece of advice ? But we small creatures of the 
lower animal kingdom,’’ yes, that is what they 
say we belong to, the lower animal kingdom,” 
do everything that we do at all in the very best 
way we can. And if I were a Boy, I would 
go for the very best things in the way of learn- 
ing and filling a good place in the world that 
I possibly could. That is all. A short sermon, 
but then, from only a Mother Bunny, you know, 
what could be expected ? 

Xow, were you to hear a dozen or a hundred 
stories from the little fellows or the little mothers 


81 


82 


MOTHER BUNNY 


that live in the woods, they would be one long 
string of adventures, tight places, and escapes, be- 
cause a wild life, sweet and welcome as it is, 
has to be full of these things, be it lived in some 
wild jungle, deep forest, swampy everglade, or 
a fine large tract of woods such as my dear home 
is in. 

A few days ago one of my children raced into 
the warren with eyes stretched wide, and trem- 
bling both from the speed it had been put to, 
and fright at the object it had seen. 

O Mother Bunny ! Mother Bunny ! it 
bleated, such a dreadful creature as is trying 
to get into our burrow, it will kill us all, I know 
it will ! 

I tried to get an explanation that would give 
me an idea as to what the creature was like. The 
young Babbit said it slipped along much like a 
snake. Its body was long, legs short, it ran out 
considerable of a neck, and its face was like a 
mouse^s. 

Then Bunny White remembered that the day 
before, while taking a peep from one of our doors, 
she had seen a reddish hack, a white breast, and 
a body that was all white underneath. She, too, 
had noticed that the animal wriggled along on 
a pair of short legs with a movement much like 
a snake^s. 

I thought I could name it. It must have been 


MY MATCHES AND A TRAP 


83 


a weasel. Fierce creatures they are, and famous 
hunters because of the many things that they 
can do. A weasel will glide along the ground 
in a swift, stealthy way, springing on a mouse, 
chicken, or mole, killing it in an instant with 
its sharp teeth. Or it will go twisting up a tree, 
making a wicked visit to a bird’s nest, and doing 
great mischief. 

Or again, down it will slip to the water’s edge, 
snap up a frog or baby duck, and should it take 
a notion, into the water it will dive, and pick 
at a fish in almost no time. In the hayloft it 
will suck out eggs by the nestful. 

Then it can make leaps and springs such as 
few animals are able to do in mid-air. It will 
bound across a space from one limb to another 
of a large tree, or, if it sees a plump bird on a 
branch, up it will dart from the ground, landing 
near enough to poor Birdie to frighten him dread- 
fully. Yet with all its agility, the weasel cannot 
fly, so Birdie has one advantage that he usually 
makes the most of. 

Ho enemy in our forest home is more dreaded 
than the weasel. He is tough and strong, but, 
fortunately for us, carries about a rank, unpleasant 
odor, that lets us know when he is near. 

We huddled together, not knowing just where 
Mister Weasel might show his extremely unwel- 
come nose. But I soon found he was picking his 


84 


MOTBEB BUNNT 


way through at one end of our living-room. Then 
the question became, what to do? 

Ah, but Mother Bunny had recently learned a 
lesson which was to serve her now. If an animal 
once gets thoroughly scared in a particular place, 
he does not soon forget it, and will not be at 
all likely to visit the place again in a hurry, I 
meant to give the weasel such a scare as would 
not go out of his mind for one long while. 

Very quietly yet swiftly I set to work, and 
Mister Babbit helped me. We did as that hunter 
had done : piled a mass of rubbish before the place 
where Mister Weasel was scratching through, 

I think Mother Bunny was pretty brave in what 
she did next. For out she crept on tiptoe, and, 
without making a sound, pushed a lot of brush 
and even stones before the opening where the 
weasel had gone in. And so silently and grad- 
ually was it done, that the foul creature at work 
inside did not notice when the light at his back 
slowly faded away. 

Then back I hurried, and fixed pieces of paper 
in and about the brush inside. After that, there 
was nothing to do but watch sharply until a dirty 
paw should come through the wall of earth. 
Pretty soon it came. My matches were ready. 
Mister Babbit set fire to an end of the brush while 
I crammed it through the hole. 

Such a whisking and a scrambling as there was ! 


MT MATCHES AND A TRAP 


85 


With little sticks we kept forcing the smouldering 
rubbish through the opening, which we were care- 
ful not to get large enough for the weasel to come 
through. The smoke must have confused him, 
when he found himself hemmed in by the brush 
I had tangled outside. 

We heard sharp squeals, a tearing and romping 
and barking as we listened all a-tremble. At 
length, there was a series of mad, wild bounces, 
then all was still. Mister Weasel had torn his 
way out. 

The smoke in our burrow was so thick by this 
time, that we were glad to creep outside and air 
ourselves, and also to open a couple of our en- 
trances nearest where the little flame had been. 
There was no trace of any living creature but 
ourselves to be seen. Animals dislike smoke, and 
are afraid of Are. And we were all amused and 
relieved to hear an animal coughing and choking 
in the distance, as if it were nearly strangled. 
The sound grew fainter and fainter, as the crea-. 
ture ran farther and farther away. 

I must confess our dwelling had a smoky odor 
for a few days, but that was nothing compared 
with having a flerce, cruel creature burst into our 
midst, that might have killed us all, for, with 
his sharp teeth and serpent-like movements, the 
weasel is a deadly foe. We feel sure that he will 
not come again, however, and as there are probably 


86 


MOTHER BUNNY 


not many weasels in our woods, we can’t help 
feeling glad that one, at least, has been pretty well 
choked. 

Another serious thing happened two days ago, 
which threatened to throw our little family into 
mourning. One of our children went out to gather 
some dry moss. Our beds had got matted up, 
and we must have nice fresh ones before winter. 
We each plucked some fur from our breasts, but 
grown Rabbits mix moss, furze, and fibre for 
their mattresses, which makes them soft enough. 
Only wee Bunnies need beds made entirely of fur, 
or fur and a few feathers. 

Well, our poor little dear had been gone but 
a few minutes, when we heard the peculiar cry 
or bleat that means trouble for Bunnies. R’ow, 
I have never failed to caution the younger ones 
of our family to take a good look around first 
thing upon leaving the burrow, and to watch where 
they went. 

But a frisky young creature of any kind is 
apt to be thoughtless and forgetful, and so our 
Spotty had gone capering out without a thought 
of harm, when lo ! he all at once was in a hunter’s 
snare. And it was almost certain that in an hour 
or two out would come the owner of the snare 
to see what he had caught. 

With great caution. Mister Rabbit and Mother 
Bunny stepped around and stepped around, but 


MY MATCHES AND A TBAP 


87 


dear, dear! The trap was a stiff one. Just as 
soon as our poor Bunny was inside, down had 
come the spring, fastening him in as completely as 
if he were in a small prison, locked with iron 
padlock and key. If the remaining eight or seven 
of us were to jump on the bar that held down 
the spring, we could not move it one atom. 

If only we had time, it might be that by taking 
turns at gnawing at the wooden bar, we might 
in a day or two get Spotty free. But what use 
to think of that ? 

He was the very handsomest child of all the 
six in our burrow; all mouse-color and white, 
with pinkish eyes and pretty ears, that looked as 
if lined with delicate white fur over pink silk. 
And an obliging, helpful creature he was, too, 
always the first to run if an errand was needed 
to be done, and I had only to say that the beds 
needed making over, when off hopped Spotty for 
the moss. 

Alack ! Aloo ! What wonder poor little Mother 
Bunny sent up a Eabbit-wail that set all the others 
a-sighing. 

Yet there was no time to waste in sorrow-sounds. 
So wiping away the tears with a small, dry paw, 
I set my wits to work. 

Did not I tell you some time ago. Boy, that 
there was no other love in the world like mother- 
love ? Yes. Well, now let me add that it would 


88 


MOTHER BUNNY 


be pretty bard to find wits that are mnch keener 
or quicker than the wits of a mother, especially 
when one of her precious children is in danger. 

Be amused if you choose at what I did next. 
I went over by a tree, got up on my hind paws, 
leaned my head against the trunk, put my fore 
paws over my face, and fell a-thinking. Yes, be 
amused. Boy, if you like, but it really seemed to 
me that if I stood up like a man, and put on a 
thinking-cap, something might occur to me that 
would be a help. 

I did catch an idea! 

Running back to the burrow, I found a stout 
piece of cord, what you call clothes-line,’’ that 
I had picked up one day, and then made the rest 
of the family except Bunny White understand 
that they were to come with me over to the trap. 

It set poor Spotty wild seeing us all trotting 
over on our toes to his prison. He tore about a 
few minutes, then laid down and flattened out 
in despair, his legs clutching the sides of the hate- 
ful trap. But going resolutely up to him, I soon 
made him see that there was something else I 
wanted him to clutch besides the wires of his 
prison. 

I thrust an end of the rope into the trap, show- 
ing him I wanted him to take it in his teeth. 
Then I brought up the other five children, making 
them take the rope in their teeth all along the 


LofO. 



“TJIK GAME MAS TO PULL THE TKAP OVER TO OUR 
BURROW, AND GRADUALLY GNAW HIM FREE ” 


MY MATCHES AND A TRAP 


89 


line. Mister Rabbit and Mother Bunny clutched 
it at the outside end. So we all had hold of it. 

The game was to pull the trap over to our 
burrow, where we could feed Spotty well, and 
gradually gnaw him free. But ginger-e-e ! If only 
the trap had been nearer our home, how thankful 
we should have been. But it was going to be 
quite a distance to drag it to the nearest entrance. 

Yet what will not an affectionate family do 
to save one of its members from being carried 
away, sold, and kept a prisoner forever afterward ! 
Now you will have to laugh. Boy, for laugh we 
had to, in spite of all our toil and trouble. 

Spotty held the rope in his teeth, and we gave 
a long, strong pull. It was too much for the small 
fellow at one end. Out of his mouth flew the 
rope, and heels over head rolled Spotty to the 
far end of the trap. But it did not discourage 
him. 

We tried again. Spotty not only holding the 
line in his mouth, but clutching at the wires with 
all four of his paws. Ah, that worked better! 
We actually started Spotty and his prison from 
the spot where it had rested half -hidden by brush 
and weeds. 

We rested, took breath, then with a great Up 
she comes ! ” off we started again. We went a 
little way, then over bounced two of the children, 
their toes getting tangled in the rope. Never mind, 


90 


MOTHER BUNNY 


we soon got them on their legs again. The next 
time we were to make a brave effort. And a brave 
effort it was ! 

Spotty held on with teeth and claws for dear 
life, and such a pull we made that really quite 
a little distance had been cleared, when we all 
at once came to a sharp hillock no one had been 
able to see. 

Over and over turned the trap, over and over 
rolled Mister Eabhit, Mother Bunny, and the 
crowd of children. We all stood on our heads, 
pink toes in air, the rope took a fly on its own 
account, and we called ourselves — shipwrecked ! 

Yet in the midst of our funny topsy-turvy, there 
popped into Mother Bunny’s head a remembrance 
that the time was short, oh, perhaps very short ! 
So we hurried to And the rope, righted the trap. 
Spotty clutched and grabbed, we clutched and 
pulled. 

Come, Boy, don’t shake so. Why, if hearing 
tell of these things sets you off into such flts, I 
think you might have nearly hurst with laughter 
had you been on the spot and seen the kick-ups and 
upsets we had, getting that ship to land, or, rather, 
getting that old trap into port, into our refuge 
under the rock. Once I saw Mister Babbit go 
flying into the air. He struck a little stump so 
hard, and let go the rope so suddenly, that he shot 
up as if blown out of a pop-gun. 


MY MATCHES AND A TRAP 


91 


Well, we got trundled under the trap and over 
it. We tumbled all over each other, and got tied 
up in knots of trap. Bunnies, and rope ! But 
never mind, we got Spotty to the entrance, and 
with one last, hard pull, we jerked trap and all 
into the burrow. And hurrah! Ave had rescued 
our Bunny-boy and — stolen a trap ! 

Mister Babbit and tAvo of the children went 
out and scattered leaves and tangle over a good 
bit of the path Avhere the trap had dragged, so 
the sportsman could not trace it. I stayed Avith 
my child. 

The next day we got Spotty out, and had spoiled 
the snare. B^ow we are going to gnaw the wood 
of the trap into fire-kindlings, cute and small, for 
smoking out weasels, foxes, and other fellows we 
do not care to receiA^e as callers. 

And we are still a united, happy family of 
nine free Bunnies. Hurrah ! 


CHAPTEK X. 


COME AGAIN 

S O you go to the city to-morrow, Boy. Well, 
sorry as I shall be to miss your friendly 
young face, yet true it is that from now until Jack 
Frost locks things up with his cold, icy key, I 
shall have but very little time for stopping to 
talk. 

J ack is around already. Xuts are falling thick 
as rain.” Corn-husks are piled in the field, weeds 
are getting stiff, and ho, for the busy boys that 
Bunnies of the woods must become nowadays! 

Do you suppose we dread the winter? Indeed 
not! 'No more cozy, comfortable quarters could 
be found than our snug burrows, no matter how 
storms may rage above and around us. 

That Great Book has good names in it. A 
refuge ” we have in very truth under the rock. 
Our scooped-out chambers underground are as 
fine for Bunnies as are your tall, heated houses 
for people.” 

So while you are busy with those studies that 
92 


COME AGAIN 


93 


ouglit to make you the right kind of a man one 
of these days, you can imagine Mother Bunny 
hopping contentedly about, caring for her family, 
and receiving her friends. 

You know we live for years. So when you see 
a Babbit hopping about, either in the hutch or 
the woods, you need not suppose it must be a new 
young thing. It may have been living seven or 
eight years. 

I made a visit the other night which did me 
a great deal of good. And it may make you feel 
happier about the Babbits that live in private 
warrens if I describe the call. 

Mister Babbit and I have long wanted to pay 
a little visit to friends in our old hutch. 'Now you 
must know it is always a risk to go there, so very 
careful we were, I can assure you. We chose a 
cloudy night, and waited until it was pitch-dark 
before setting forth. 

The journey through woods, across paths, and 
over to the hutch was taken in safety, and our 
old friends, as well as several new ones, were very 
glad to see us. And really they appeared well 
satisfied and happy. The warren had been made 
larger, there was quite a run from wire to wire, 
and it was pleasant to see so much cheerfulness 
and I thought contentment. 

It is true that when we started to come away, 
there was a wild picking at the bars, as though 


94 


MOTHER BUNNY 


the sight of our freedom made them want to run 
far and wide and where they pleased. But they 
were a sleek, well-fed company, and as they all 
had been born in the warren, it was the best they 
knew. 

Mister Babbit and Mother Bunny decided, how- 
ever, that they would not often visit the hutch. 
It shows our friends the difference between being 
behind wires and outside of them, and it is of 
no use to do that. 

Afterwards, we called with much caution on a 
family of Bunnies, where the father, mother, and 
several children had all been captured in the 
woods. We did not enjoy that visit very much. 
Don’t ever capture wild creatures. Boy, and then 
fancy they will enjoy being household pets. 

There is no such thing in the book ” — that must 
mean the book of B’ature. 

If you must have a Bunny, a squirrel, or a 
bird, get one that has always lived in a hutch, 
crate, or cage. 

How we are packing our storerooms just as fast 
as we can pack. We are putting in smart work 
around grapevines among other things, as grape- 
stalks keep sweet and sappy a long time. By 
piling them in heaps, we keep them fresh and 
juicy, that is, as juicy as we ever want anything 
to be. 

We are a jolly set when snow comes twirling 


COME AGAIN 


95 


down. Then is the time for house-parties that 
last a week at a time. The journeys to and fro 
are risky affairs, far more so than in the summer- 
time. hTo protecting leaves to hide under, no gray 
stones to roll ourselves beneath, and look all of 
a piece,’’ no soft turf or moss to help conceal us. 

Isn’t it droll — we enjoy the trips all the more 
for that! But we take no long ones, such as 
the journey to my grandchildren’s. Perhaps once 
or twice through the winter the young Bunnies 
venture on a long trip, but never in fresh snow, 
or after a thaw. 

But after snow has grown soiled, and has a 
gray tinge, then the youngsters sometimes dare 
take quite a long hop, when we are always de- 
lighted to see them. 

Do you suppose the woods are dreary when his 
lordship Jack Frost and her ladyship the Snow 
Queen are abroad ? They might be for you. Boy, 
but they are not for us. I have many a time 
slipped outside the burrow for a few moments on 
a winter’s day, and just listened. 

Owls would go flapping and hooting by, and 
to us there is nothing doleful in their cry. Far 
overheard such a chattering and cracking of nuts 
as the squirrels are keeping up ! Seed-pods are 
snapping open with the pop of little pistols from 
the frost, and winter birds, chick-a-dee, snow-bird. 


96 


MOTHER BUNNY 


and sparrows, are flying and chirping in every 
direction. 

I have seen moles darting about, mice capering 
by on swift little toes, and once in awhile the hark 
of a fox has made me feel sure that Keynard is 
hurrying off to a warm hole somewhere in the 
deep woods. 

So remember we are all watched over, and do 
not worry when the storms and the sleet come 
pouncing down, and wonder what the Forest Boys 
will do then, poor things. 

In burrows, nests, and hollows, in tree, rock, 
and ground, we dwell in safety. 

Dear little Bunny White is never happier than 
when winter weather and the Storm King hold 
rule. She says we are all secure, all in the bur- 
row, with no wanderers abroad to worry over. 
There is scarcely any danger that a hold, unwel- 
come guest will give trouble. They are for the 
most part keeping to their own quarters, and, like 
ourselves, taking but few trips over the frozen 
ground. 

What is it you are trying to make me under- 
stand, Boy ? Oh, you needn’t thank me for telling 
my story. You have been finding health and 
strength in the fair, sweet country, and if Mother 
Bunny has been able to teach you anything worth 
knowing, she is only very glad to have had the 
chance. 


COME AGAIN 


97 


Don’t forget the few lessons. Take advice from 
one of a “ feeble folk,” and be afraid of nothing 
but doing wrong. I could teach you almost noth- 
ing, for, my goodness me. Boy ! if the Conies and 
the Bunnies can find out about the rocks that 
are their refuge, and if the tiny ants are taught 
to build houses and lay out streets, what must 
people ” know ! 

There must he a wonderful Something hack of 
every living creature in the world. I think its 
name may be Love I '' 

Good-by, Boy ; good-hy, dear. Don’t forget 
little Mother Bunny. And sometime when the city 
gets hot again, and the cool, sweet woods are call- 
ing, and all the free, woodland creatures are 
inviting, Come Again ! ” 


THE END. 





JUN 12 1903 



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